A Naval History of World War I

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A Naval History of World War I Page 85

by Paul G. Halpern


  78.Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 5:121–23; Taussig gives his account in a four-part article, “Destroyer Experiences.” Bayly’s own interesting memoirs are in Pull Together! See also the Naval Historical Foundation’s pamphlet: DeLany, Bayly’s Navy.

  79.Klachko, Benson, 67–68; Taussig quotation in Sims, The Victory at Sea, 58. A slightly different version is in Taussig, “Destroyer Experiences,” Proceedings, vol. 48, no. 12 (December 1922): 2036.

  80.Morison, Sims, 354–55; Taussig, “Destroyer Experiences,” Proceedings, vol. 49, no. 1 (January 1923): 53, 57, 58.

  81.Roskill, Hankey 1:355–58. Substantial portions of the memorandum are printed in Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:10–14 and in Lord Hankey, Supreme Command 2:646–47.

  82.Minute of Rear Admiral A. L. Duff, 26 April 1917, Memorandum by Jellicoe to the First Lord, Sir Edward Carson, 27 April 1917, Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 2:157–62; Roskill, Hankey 1:379–84. There is an exhaustive discussion of the subject in Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, vol. 4, chap. 6.

  83.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:43–44; Naval Staff, Home Waters—Part VIII, 385.

  84.Morison, Sims, 356–57.

  85.Naval Staff, Home Waters—Part VIII, 385; Naval Staff, Home Waters—Part IX, 155; Fayle, Seaborne Trade 3:129–30.

  86.Winton, Convoy, 67.

  87.Naval Staff, Home Waters—Part IX, 156–59; further details in Winton, Convoy, 80–82; Beesly, Room 40, 264–65.

  88.Naval Staff, Home Waters—Part IX, 160.

  89.Technical History Section, TH 14. Atlantic Convoy System, 22.

  90.Trask, Captains & Cabinets, 88–89.

  91.Cited in Klachko, Benson, 71. See also Allard, “Anglo-American Naval Differences,” 76.

  92.Paper prepared by Jellicoe for the War Cabinet on the influence of the Submarine upon Naval Policy and Operations, 18 November 1917, Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 2:226–29.

  93.Details on convoys taken from Technical History Section, TH 14. Atlantic Convoy System, 21–29; description of “Commissioned Escort Ships” from Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:58.

  94.For a U-boat commander’s view of the problems caused by convoys, see the classic report of Kapitänleutnant Saalwächer of U.94, 6 August 1917, in Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-booten 4:224–25. See also Doenitz, Memoirs, 4.

  95.Technical History Section, TH 14. Atlantic Convoy System, 23–25, 28; Technical History Section, TH 15. Convoy Statistics, 21. See also Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:101–3.

  96.Technical History Section, TH 15. Convoy Statistics, 23–25.

  97.Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 5:364–65.

  98.Grant, U-Boat Intelligence, 185–86; Grant, U-Boats Destroyed, 67–69.

  99.Hezlet, The Submarine and Sea Power, 95–97.

  100.Hezlet, The Submarine and Sea Power, 96–97. There are detailed accounts in Fayle, Seaborne Trade, vol. 3, and the account by the former chairman of the Allied Maritime Transport Executive, Salter, Allied Shipping Control.

  101.Cited in Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 5:192.

  102.Beatty to his wife, 19 June 1917, Ranft, The Beatty Papers 1:443.

  103.Remarks by Beatty on Operation BB, 6 July 1917, PRO, Adm 137/875, ff. 206, 259; minutes by Oliver, Duff, Fisher, Hope, and Jellicoe, ibid., passim. Printed accounts are in Naval Staff, Home Waters—Part IX, 162–69; and Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:54–55.

  104.Naval Staff, Home Waters—Part IX, 173–74; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:121–23.

  105.Beatty to his wife, 7 July 1917, Ranft, The Beatty Papers 1:445–46.

  106.Beatty to Admiralty, 17 October 1917, and minutes by naval staff, PRO, Adm 137/876; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:145–49; Grant, U-Boats Destroyed, 50–53.

  107.Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 4:386–91; Gerald Feldman, Army, Industry and Labor in Germany (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966), 362–63.

  108.Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 4:39–40; see also Lundeberg, “German Naval Critique,” 115–16.

  109.Michelsen, La Guerre sous-marine, 90.

  110.Tarrant, U-Boat Offensive, 55–56; Waters, “Notes,” par. 31.

  111.Fayle, Seaborne Trade 3:251–54; Technical History Section, TH 14. Atlantic Convoy System, 32–33; Technical History Section, TH 8. Scandinavian Convoy, 11–15.

  112.Cited in Historical Section, The Defeat of the Enemy Attack, 1A:5.

  113.Herwig, “Luxury Fleet,” 228; Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 4:395–97.

  114.Rössler, The U-Boat, 78–80.

  115.The authoritative German official history of these operations is Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg, vol. 3.

  116.Details from Schmalenbach, German Raiders, 137–38; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 4:176–91; Admiralty, Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 14–16. See also the Möwe’s captain’s wartime account: Dohna-Schlodien, Der Möwe.

  117.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 4:216–17.

  118.Figures from Schmalenbach, German Raiders, 47, 71, 138, 140; Admiralty, Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 17–21; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 4:209–26. The standard monograph is Alexander, The Cruise of the Raider “Wolf.”

  119.Luckner, Seeteufel; Thomas, Count Luckner. Luckner’s image tarnished somewhat when he toured Australia and New Zealand in 1938 and was regarded by some as an apologist for the Nazi regime. See the interesting Carl Rühen, The Sea Devil: The Controversial Cruise of the Nazi Emissary von Luckner to Australia and New Zealand in 1938 (Kenthurst, Australia: Kangaroo Press, 1988).

  120.Schmalenbach, German Raiders, 47, 71, 138; Admiralty, Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 21–22; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 4:195–206.

  121.Schmalenbach, German Raiders, 34, 71; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 4:191–95; Admiralty, Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 22–23.

  122.Admiralty, Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 2–3.

  123.Scheer, Germany’s High Sea Fleet, 280.

  124.Horn, German Naval Mutinies, chap. 4.

  125.Gladisch, Krieg in der Nordsee 6:248–55.

  126.Ibid. 7:44–51; Scheer, Germany’s High Sea Fleet, 309–10; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:149–56; Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 4:294–99.

  127.Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 4:295 n. 3. See also the full discussion in Beesly, Room 40, 276–79.

  128.Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 4:299–308; the detailed official histories are: Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:164–77; and Gladisch, Krieg in der Nordsee 7:55–87; a small collection of documents is in Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 2:230–38; intelligence matters in Beesly, Room 40, 280.

  129.Scheer, Germany’s High Sea Fleet, 311–14; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:156–59, 184–94.

  130.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:194; Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 4:313–15.

  131.Technical History Section, TH 8. Scandinavian Convoy, 26–27.

  12. THE MEDITERRANEAN: 1915–1918

  1.On the German decision to reinforce their Mediterranean submarines, see Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 148–53. See also Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 2:197–201.

  2.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 157–58; Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 2:202–5.

  3.Austro-Hungarian submarine construction described in detail in Aichelburg, Unterseeboote Österreich-Ungarns 1:92–100, 110–17. See also Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 158–59.

  4.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 190–91, 194; Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 3:10, 24–26, 37. Tonnages from ibid., 388, 390.

  5.Lapeyrère to Augagneur, 4 October 1915, SHM, Carton Ed-83.

  6.On the Ancona affair, see Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 194–98; Lansing, War Memoirs, 87–92, 94; Link, Wilson, 62–63, 66–72; Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 35:208–9, 282, 286–89, 364–66, 368–70, 378–80.

  7.Jackson to Jellicoe, 1, 21 Novemb
er, 1915, British Library, London, Jellicoe MSS, Add. MSS 49009.

  8.Jellicoe to Jackson, 8 November 1915, Jellicoe to Balfour, 23 February 1916, reproduced in Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 1:186, 189.

  9.Dartige to Lacaze, 6 December 1915, SHM, Carton Ed-84.

  10.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 230–33. Details on the loss of the Provence in Thomazi, Méditerranée, 169–70.

  11.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 237–38; see also Fayle, Seaborne Trade 2:257–59.

  12.Report by Captain H. W. Grant, n.d. (c. 7 December 1915) and Agreement of 3 December 1915, PRO, Adm 137/499.

  13.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 234–35; Keyes to his wife, 30 December 1915, reproduced in Halpern, The Keyes Papers 1:299.

  14.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 238–42. The Procès Verbaux and General Report of the conference may be found in PRO, Adm 137/499.

  15.Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 3:388, 390.

  16.Details of U.35’s cruise and tonnages are in Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 3:161–63, 388, 390; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 250–53.

  17.Grant, U-Boat Intelligence, 183–84. They lost four in the Black Sea.

  18.Figures from Holtzendorff, Immediatvortrag, 25 October 1916, NARS, T-1022, Roll, 803, PG 75267.

  19.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 251–52; In 1916 Austrian submarines did not usually operate outside the Adriatic and in Handelskrieg sank only sixteen ships, mostly small coastal steamers or sailing craft. On Austrian operations see Aichelburg, Unterseeboote Österreich-Ungarns 1:172–85, 2:90–91, 302–3, 356–58.

  20.Submarine communications with Libya are discussed in Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 191–93, 245–48, 250, 313, 535; Gibson and Prendergast, German Submarine War, 76; and Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 3:25, 32–34, 43–44, 46–47; 4:188; 5:168–69, 206–8.

  21.Correspondence regarding transporting troops overland to Marseilles is in PRO, Adm 137/1221; correspondence regarding shifting more trade to the Cape route is in ibid., Adm 137/2894.

  22.Ballard’s proposal (14 October 1916) and ensuing Admiralty minutes and memoranda are reproduced in Halpern, Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, 178–82, 197–202.

  23.For a summary of the arguments over dispersion and the London conference, see Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 326–33. The agenda, minutes, and conclusion of the conference are in PRO, Adm 137/1420.

  24.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 307–12; German figures from Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 5:388, 390; Austrian figures from Aichelburg, Unterseeboote Österreich-Ungarns 2:490–91.

  25.The events can be followed in Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 4:160, 170–72, 180, 185; Moraht, Werwolf der Meere, 56–62; Gibson and Prendergast, German Submarine War, 240–44; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 4:276–86; Thomazi, Méditerranée, 58, 185–88; and Ufficio Storico, Marina italiana 4:181–84, 236–37.

  26.Gauchet to Lacaze, 10 March 1917, SHM, Carton Ed-85.

  27.Holtzendorff to Admiralstab, 18 May 1917, Admiralstab to U-Flotilla, Pola, 29 May 1917, NARS, T-1022, Roll 731, PG 75298.

  28.Robertson to Jellicoe, 6 April 1917, and Jellicoe, “Protection of Shipping in the Mediterranean,” 17 April 1917, PRO, Adm 137/1413.

  29.On the Corfu conference and its background, see Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 338–49. Figures on Allied patrol vessels from Report of Sub-Committee, Minutes of Corfu Conference, Annex I, PRO, Adm 137/1421.

  30.Naval Staff, Mediterranean Staff Papers, 21. The Americans, as usual, were particularly interested in Japanese naval activity. See: ONI, “Japanese Naval Operations during European War,” n.d., NARS, RG 38, U-4-b, No. 11083; Train (U.S. naval attaché in Italy) to Sims, 26 June 1917, and Train to ONI, 21 August 1917, ibid., RG 45, OT File, Box 335.

  31.Gibson and Prendergast, German Submarine War, 256, 258.

  32.Summary in Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 340–41; see also: Laurens, Commandement naval, 267–69; Thomazi, Guerre navale dans la Méditerranée, 193–94; Salaun, La Marine Française, 263–64.

  33.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 369–72, and 447 n. 47. On Calthorpe, see especially Godfrey, Naval Memoirs 2:96, 99–100. The first Mediterranean C-in-C designate was Vice Admiral Wemyss, then C-in-C Egypt and East Indies. Wemyss was called to the Admiralty in August as Second Sea Lord and eventually replaced Jellicoe as First Sea Lord in December.

  34.The Italian question is dealt with in Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 375–86, 403–8.

  35.The voluminous minutes, reports, and conclusions of the conference are in PRO, Adm 137/1420.

  36.Niblack to Sims, 28 March 1918, NARS, RG 45, TD File, Box 553. See also “The American Effort in the Mediterranean,” n.d. (postwar), ibid., OD File, Box 308; Sims, The Victory at Sea, 160–63.

  37.Naval Staff, Mediterranean Staff Papers, 59–61, 67; Fayle, Seaborne Trade 3:184–85; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 386–90.

  38.Niblack to Sims, 19 January 1918, NARS, TD File, Box 553.

  39.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 444–46. See also Robinson, “The Brazilian Navy.”

  40.“Yamew,” “Mediterranean Convoys,” 242.

  41.Anthony Morse, Sr., “When ASW Was Young,” Naval History 4, no. 2 (Spring 1990): 72–74.

  42.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 311–16, 394–95, 398–99; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:79–81; Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 3:388, 390; ibid. 4:376–77, 476–77, 479–84; 496–97; Aichelburg, Unterseeboote Österreich-Ungarns 2:490–92.

  43.Calthorpe to Admiralty, 27 November 1917, with minutes by naval staff, in Halpern, Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, 313–19; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 390; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:81–82.

  44.Naval Staff, Mediterranean Staff Papers, 69.

  45.Niblack to Sims, 19 January 1918, NARS, TD File, Box 553.

  46.Michelsen, La Guerre sous-marine, 70–71, 171–72; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 453–56. On the Cattaro air raids, see Raleigh and Jones, The War in the Air 6:321–22.

  47.Barrage proposals are in Calthorpe to Admiralty, 16 January 1918, and Admiralty minutes, in Halpern, Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, 367–73, 383–88. Rome conference and its background in Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 409–10, 426–31. French ideas on the fixed barrage are in Thomazi, L’Adriatique, 142–43, 164–65, 179–81.

  48.Sims to Ratyé, 16 August 1918, NARS, RG 45, TD File, Box 553. See also the very full postwar account in Nelson to Sims, 16 December 1919, ibid., OD File, Box 310. For published accounts, see Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 433–34, 503–8; Sims, The Victory at Sea, chap. 6; and Moffat, Maverick Navy.

  49.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 508–13, 518–21, 565; Grant, U-Boats Destroyed, 132–33, 162–63; Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 5:201. The voluminous reports of the Allied Conference on Mediterranean Minelaying, August 1918, are in PRO, Adm 137/836. For U.S. plans, see also Allied Naval Council Memorandum No. 203, “Minelaying Operations, Mediterranean,” 11 September 1918, ibid.

  50.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 453–57, 534–39; Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 5:364–65; Aichelburg, Unterseeboote Österreich-Ungarns 2:492–93. For cryptography and direction finding, see especially Naval Staff, Mediterranean Staff Papers, 32, 110–20; Grant, U-Boat Intelligence, 134–42; Beesly, Room 40, 178–80; and Hezlet, Electronics and Sea Power, 142–45.

  51.Gibson and Prendergast, German Submarine War, 272, 274; the view from Lychnis is in “Yamew,” “Mediterranean Convoys,” 243; Dönitz’s account is in Doenitz, Memoirs, 1–4; see also Padfield, Dönitz, 83–89.

  52.The question of the Mediterranean admiralissimo is discussed in detail in Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 457–87, 522–34; a series of documents on the subject are printed in Halpern, Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, 474–96, 523–24, 537–40, 545–47, 549–55. A summary of
Revel’s arguments and the Italian position is in Ufficio Storico, Marina italiana 7:424–25. See also Roskill, Hankey 1:558–59; Lord Hankey, Supreme Command 2:811–12; Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 350–51, 362–64; and Charles-Roux, Souvenirs Diplomatiques, 314–16.

  53.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 498–501. The British and French squadron in the Aegean was also reinforced by the Greek armored cruiser Averoff and four Greek destroyers. The Greek fleet had been either disarmed or (the light craft) sequestered in October 1916 because of the equivocal conduct of King Constantine. After King Constantine was forced to abdicate in June 1917 and Greece entered the war on the side of the Allies, the French somewhat reluctantly returned the Greek ships, which were slowly manned as reliable crews became available. Older Greek destroyers and torpedo boats also worked as escorts, primarily in the Aegean. See ibid., 293–300, 367–69.

  54.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 558–65. See also Lloyd George, War Memoirs 2:1974; Godfrey, Naval Memoirs 2:116. A series of documents, including the Clemenceau-Lloyd George exchange, on the end of the war with Turkey are printed in Halpern, Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, 568–86.

  55.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 567–68; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:359–60. Spindler, Handelskrieg mit U-Booten 5:195–97, 214–15, 226–28. In addition four U-boats on operations were ordered by wireless to return to Germany, one (UC.74) lacked sufficient fuel and was interned in Barcelona, and another (U.34) disappeared.

  13. 1918: THE SUBMARINE THREAT CONTAINED

  1.On the dismissal of Jellicoe, see especially Roskill, “The Dismissal of Admiral Jellicoe.” Patterson, Jellicoe, chap. 8; and Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, vol. 4, chap. 12. Jellicoe’s account of the circumstances leading to his dismissal is in Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 2:240–45.

  2.King George V to Beatty, 10 February 1918, reproduced in Ranft, The Beatty Papers 1:511.

  3.Beatty’s memorandum of 9 January 1918 is substantially quoted in Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 5:132–34; see also Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 5:205–7. Details on the Mackensen from Gröner, German Warships 1:57–58.

 

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